Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Continuing our quest to uncover all
things science or fiction, we’ve taken a creative turn. We’ve all done it, gone
out on the lash and produced the best piece of work to date in a drunken haze.
But, the question is does that extra pint actually make you more creative?

“I’m not a writer with a drinking problem, I’m
a drinker with a writing problem!” – Brendan Behan

Creativity and alcohol have been said
to go hand in hand for centuries. From the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer to the
late Amy Winehouse alcohol presently stood by their side to inspire. But, was
it the alcohol that unearthed such talents?

The University of Illinois conducted a
study in 2012 to find the answer on every hopeful’s lips – does a tipple get
the juices flowing? And, find out it did.

The study, Uncorking the muse, set vodka to the test on twenty willing men;
volunteers were given Cape Cods (aka, the humble vodka-cranberry) until their blood
alcohol level reached 0.75, just below the legal limit. Joined by twenty sober
men, the test began.

Tests subjects were set a Remote Association Test, or to everyone
else, a word association test, for example: name the word best paired with
“peach,” “arm” and “tar.” The answer? “Pit.” It took on average for the sober
subjects 15 seconds to answer the riddle, whereas in contrast it took 11.5
seconds for those drinking to solve.

Researchers found having that drink to
inspire the senses relaxes the brain, allowing less focus on attention, and
therefore connections amongst related ideas made easier. Aka, alcohol does get those creative juices flowing.*

Co-author of the study, Jennifer Wiley
of Illinois University, said: “We have this assumption that being able to focus
on one part of a problem, or having a lot of expertise is better for problem
solving.”

“That’s not necessarily true. Innovation may happen when people are no so
focused. Sometimes it’s good to be distracted.”

*Note: This study was not carried out
on women, or over the legal limit. Results may vary.

If one study isn’t enough for you,Dave Birss, Contributing Editor of The Drum, with the aid of John Jessup
put their similar theory to the test. A night fuelled through Guinness saw Dave
pick up a ‘Best Copy Award.’ Could
this spur on other creative award winners? Thus ‘The Newt/Judge Experiment’ was
born.

Their hypothesis: Booze frees up
thinking as alcohol lowers inhibition. Further consumption weakens thought
processes, therefore reducing the quality of work produced.

A collective of 18 creative advertisers
were separated into two groups. Nine sober, and the other nine fuelled with as
much booze as they could take. During the study, two of the drinking subjects
were sent home from over-consumption. There really were no limits.

Once the effects took hold, each team
were given three hours to work on an advertisement brief. The brief? Combatting
binge drinking, oh, the irony.

The results confirmed it. The drinkers
proved more productive creating 59 ideas, even with two people down. Whereas,
the sober group managed a lesser 48 in total. Mathematically speaking this
meant that the production levels of the drinkers were 23% higher than the sober
subjects.

The top 10 ideas were chosen, drawn up,
presented to top creative directors and ranked again. Four of the top five
ideas were that from the drinkers, and four of the bottom five ideas were of
the sober subjects.

There you have it, even science says
so, alcohol really does inspire our inner creative mind.